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Can I Get Out of Paying the Filing Fee for the Court?

In both Oregon and Washington, the bankruptcy court can waive the filing fee for an individual chapter 7 debtor where that debtor’s income is less than 150% of the official poverty line and is unable to pay that fee in installments.

If you feel that a fee waiver is appropriate, you must file a fully completed Application for Waiver of the Chapter 7 Filing Fee with your bankruptcy petition. If the judge denies your request for fee waiver, an order requiring the payment of the filing fee in installments will be entered. In the event that the installment payments are not made on time, your case will be dismissed.

To get an idea of whether you might qualify for fee waiver, the 2011 poverty lines numbers for household sizes are listed below. To determine whether you might qualify, multiply the numbers by 3/2s or calculate what 150% of that number would be for your household.